Faculty/Author Profile

Renee Cheng

University of Minnesota

Professor and Head, School of Architecture

Minneapolis, MN, USA

Renée Cheng is a graduate of Harvard's Graduate School of Design (M.Arch) and Harvard College (A.B. with honors). A registered architect, her professional experience includes work for Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners and Richard Meier and Partners before founding Cheng-Olson Design.

She taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Arizona before joining the faculty University of Minnesota in January of 2002 where she is currently Head. She has been recognized for teaching excellence with numerous teaching awards at the school, state and national level. She was recently one of a team of faculty from the University of Minnesota who won the 2008 AIA Education Honor Award for a transformative professional curriculum.

Her research involves documenting case studies of buildings that integrate design with emerging technologies. Her essay on the topic of architectural education and Integrated Practice was included in the 2006 AIA Report on Integrated Practice and she edited a new chapter on Computing Technology for Architectural Graphic Standards published in 2007. In partnership with Laura Lee, she was a 2009 Latrobe Prize finalist for a proposal linking research and practice. Her recent case studies on IPD were published by AIA in February 2011 and extended for additional funding for 2012.

She recently served as President of AIA Minnesota and the AIA National Board advisory group on Integrated Practice and is a former member of the AIA National Board Knowledge Committee.